If you have no idea what this leaf is, check out the link below, especially the first link where it's specially cater for Indian Almond Leaves. After you check out the link...do return here to read on some of my experience with this leaf :D

"One of the experience I have is when I was keeping Tiger Barbs, Puntius tetrazona. I bought 6 of them from the LFS and they were looking great from day 1. But after a few days, one by one gets white spot disease. I try to salt bath them for few seconds, sounds silly, but its one way of medication. Sadly, all of them died soon after, I guess they couldn't resists the salt bath or maybe I immersed them too long :(

Anyway I went back to the LFS and bought another 6. Also I didn't do any water change in my aquarium. Same thing happen after the new batch of Tiger Barbs was introduce, they were attack by white spot disease. This time, I figured out to try the Indian Almond Leaves. I knew about this leaves long time ago, but it's just that sometimes it never come across my mind...lol! So what happens is...the fishes cured within days, I didn't even quarantine them, just add the leaves into the rearing tank. After that day, not one disease and the 6 of them were healthy as ever :D"

One more story to prove to you the miracle of this leaves :D

"This story is a recent one, it involve wild bettas :D

3 cases here...fin rots, swimming isolated and with eyes getting blurred (not quite sure the exact term for this disease)...this fishes were wild caught and have been travelling around, that have cause them stress.

So what I did, same case lot's and lot's of the Indian Almond Leaves as soon as they arrive home....and they soon recovered :D

Today the wild bettas are in Swiss now :D.....arr, I'm missing them :(

How they ended up in Swiss is because they were not mine, but my Swiss friend who happen to come here for holiday. So he kept the bettas in my house for quarantine and healing before bringing them back to Swiss.....they are doing fine now, according to my friend, so that's good news :D"

So that's about it on Indian Almond Leaves :D

P.S. If you want those leaves, I do sell them, I'll make a new post on this...

Friday, December 25, 2009

First of all..."A Merry Christmas 2009 and A Happy New Year 2010" to all my readers :D

I have recently prepared a diagram of how to grow the Glossostigma elatinoides for one of my customers who bought this plants from me. This was hand written and drawn, so I scan it to my pc, and would like to share it with you all...a christmas gift for you!

The diagram illustrate how to grow glosso that comes either in the tall growing form or the low growing form. This should help beginners who are growing this plants for the first time.

The image here has been resized, please click on the image to go to my photo album and download it for better viewing

Click on the picture to go to the album, you can download it for better viewing

I hope you enjoy this scan, and if you have any problems, feel free to post a comment or simply drop me an email.....cheers :D

Sunday, December 6, 2009

As far as I know the Red Ramshorn Snail is not 100% aquatic snail. What I mean by this is that, these snails, doesn't have gills so they cannot breath underwater. Instead they have a large pulmonary sac for the gaseous exchange. Under bright light, the sac can be seen like a bubble of air trapped inside the shell.

How the snail breath is by going up to the water surface just like dolphin or whale does. Once they collected enough air, they will then return back into the water. It is like a diver's gas tank, and will last them for few moments (how long exactly I'm not sure, never really observed till that extent)...

Sometimes the snails will spend quite a while floating on the water surface breathing, before entering into the water...during this time, at first glance, you may think that the snail is weak and might be dying or maybe even dead :), but actually they are not!

Here's one interesting observation...

A snail that just fill up their air tank cannot sink, the only way for them to go back into the water is to crawl, with their foot acting like a suction cap, so they will remain underwater. But try picking them, and they will float back up.

The opposite for a snail which have an empty air tank...they will sink right to the bottom if you pick them, and try to crawl back up for air.....:D

Anyway, after knowing about the snail breathing air, they are infact aquatic snails afterall...as they cannot survive without water....try placing them out of water, they will eventually die.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Okay...to all betta lovers, particularly those from Malaysia, here is a chance for you to exhibit your beloved betta. Anyway, I don't keep betta, but I'll help spread the words. I've just got some info on this and here's the details...

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Wow!.....it's been a while since I last blog.....again, I was quite busy especially early this month.....was helping my dad setting up his office. Good thing it's done now, but then another problem occurred, my mom met with an accident last week.....Luckily she is fine. Anyway hope that explains.......hahaha :D

Well throughout this month, I collected topic which I would like to blog about (such as the plants I obtain, some tank updates and so on). But yet to find time.......anyway I would like to start with this one....How to catch daphnia or moina...I guess this gonna be a good one, especially to those struggling to find live feed for their fry or small mouth fish.

I won't go into detail of what daphnia or moina is, I guess a simple google of the term will provide the results.

What I want to share is this....

One of the method to collect or catch daphnia or moina is to first understand their natural behavior. This critters in nature are attracted to light.....just like Brine shrimp, artemia does.

So with that behavior, it's an advantage for us....just watch the video and you will know what I meant :D

To catch them, simply use a fine mesh net. Anyway, you have to work out ways on how you gonna reach those daphnia in a pond :D

Okay....this is just one method.....There's other method to catch them.....maybe next time ehh :D

Sunday, September 27, 2009

I've been looking around all the LFS available here that carries CO2 equipments, surveying on the pressurized CO2 kits, especially the price....BuMmer! Very, very expensive :(

The cheapest price combination, just for the CO2 tank (RM400) and a solenoid regulator (RM350) alone, can cost up to RM750!....oh boy!.......there is even a store sellin the kits for about RM1k.........wooo, that's way out of my reach :(

I started to wonder now, if the Planted Tank Layout hobby is really that expensive? Yes, although that high price is a one time investment for this hobby, but that is still a lot of money :(

Phew....long story short, lucky me, maybe because of my nature, I was able to outsource, and I came across CO2 tank sellin for 2 to 3 times cheaper from the LFS. I can't wait to get it for my plants.

The only thing left for me now is to outsource for the regulator. So let's see how it goes :)

Monday, September 21, 2009

Hahaha...ok, actually I just wanted to try growing Java ferns emersed. So...today I trim out some plantlets that grows from the mother plants. I guess I was having a good time trimming the plantlets and I end up obtaining quite a number of them.

Imagine 2 times of this ammount!

So consider I have extras, I would like to sell them. Obviously most of my readers as for now are from overseas, and probably it would be impossible to sell to them, but what the heck, I'll just post in here.

Following picture is roughly how big some of the plantlets relative to the size of my hand (an average adult hand...lol)....of course there's some plantlets that are much smaller (babies) than this ones.

One of the reason I wanted to grow them emersed is to propagate more of this ferns to prepare for my new scape. I hope I can try my luck in IAPLC (International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest) next year, if there's one to be held :)

So wish me luck and if you want some of this ferns, contact me.....Cheers :D

Friday, September 18, 2009

About a week plus after I bought my new batch of Red Cherry Shrimp, I have now 2 female shrimp carrying eggs.......man I'm happy!

Looks like it's proven that my earlier batch of Red Cherries didn't have any males, so they were not breeding.

Now I can start breeding my other Red Cherries.....time to start thinking of a breeding setup for them :)

But before that, I might visit the LFS again to get more male shrimp, coz, out of the 5 shirmp I bought earlier, 1 died, leaving me 4 shrimp, but turn out that 2 was a young female. So the reason to get more male shrimps.

Okay...here's the pic of them....not very clear shot, but good enough to present to you, enjoy :D

Friday, September 11, 2009

Hahaha...what a title........yeah, coz I supposed that this plant, Anubias barteri 'petite' is an expensive plant.....and I have it right there in My Little Underwater Eden......lolz

I have check briefly that this plant can fetch RM30 per pot. Now that's expensive, considering that this plant is a slow grower.....and that's probably the reason why I just notice this plant in my 3 month old tank :)

Check out the pic...

Anubias barteri 'petite' growing among the Java ferns

Well that's the only plant I have.....that little :)

And the next pic is the whole bogwood where those plants are growing on.....java fern, Anubias barteri 'petite', and java moss....

the Anubias barteri 'petite' such tiny among the other plants

So my plan now is try to propagate the Anubias barteri 'petite'. I'm thinkin how to reach the limited space of the plant to at least cut out a rhizome of it......and that's a real problem, coz I'm affraid I will destroy the whole plant :)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Today is the first time in my life I acquire the cardinal tetras, Paracheirodon axelrodi. I've been wanting to keep this fish for many, many years, but never seen them being sold here, until earlier this week that I saw the cardinals selling in one of the LFS here in Sabah.

I know that in Peninsular Malaysia, this fish is much easier to obtain, coz the fish keeping hobby over there is much mature compared to Sabah.

After I found out earlier this week there's cardinals here.....this really got my hands itchy....lolz. And so, today I decided to get the fish.

I bought only 6 pcs just for the start at RM4 each.....I didn't want to buy too manny yet, coz I affraid I will overstock my tank, as I currently have 11 neons in it......in my glosso tank :)

So here's the pics of the lovely Cardinals....their colour is not yet optimum...hopefully after they acclimatized, they will display much intense coloration......just cant wait for that to happen :)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Okay...I'm supposed to be busy with my work, and for that reason, I've not been blogging since....and in fact I'm still busy, but things didn't turn out the way I want it to be so...I decided to update my blog...just to release off that emotional feeling......hahaha

The motivating force for me to blog at a busy time like this came after some query from fellow hobbyist on growing moss. So I made a simple video on "Growing Moss on Bogwood"

Well besides bogwood, you can grow moss on any other substrate such as rock. It's pretty much the same method. And you don't need any sophisticated materials...all you need is:

substrate you want to grow moss on (e.g. bogwood or rock)

sewing thread

and some good ammount of moss of course

That's all you need....Check out the video, and let me know what you think....Cheers :)

Newly setup moss on 8th August 2009....Spiky moss on bogwood

Same Spiky moss on bogwood, pic taken on 1st September 2009....they grow within less than a month!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

After some busy day working on my main project, would like to make a post on one of the recent plants I accquired, which is Crystalwort, Riccia fluitans.

Few days back, on the 8th of August I took some pics of the way I plant Riccia. With the pics I took earlier, and some pics yesterday, I decided to make the video on how I plant them while I'm having some extra time off to think and plan my next move on my project.

So here's the video...

I'm just excited on the growth speed of this interesting plants. Within 5 days, tiny plantlets emerged from the mosquito net. I think it might cover up the rocks in a short period of time, can't wait for that to happen...

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Phew...manage to squeeze some time from my busy days to update on my Glossostigma and hairgrass tank.

And here it is....after 4 weeks of setup, enjoy :)

Here's the changes I did...

On Week 3:- filled up the tank- added a hang on back filter (a small one, just to make some water movement, and do some simple filtering job, and guess what...the media is brand new, and I used it without cycling! After all, my main objectives is to let the plants do the job)

On Week 4:- added CO2 (DIY)- and some Red Cherry Shrimp somewhere between week 3 and 4- reduce the lighting period from 16 hours to 10 hours somewhere between week 3 and 4

After adding the CO2, the Glossostigma started bubbling, love them :)

Actually I wanted to add some larger rocks as hardscape into the tank in week 3, but decided not to, yet. I'll spare the rocks later, as for now, I want to enjoy watching the plants fill up the tank, and see my shrimps breeds.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

I was very busy recently and will be for the next few days working on my project.....anyway here's a quick video showing my plants producing O2 bubbles in my nursery tank...check it out...it's a quick one, capture it using my mobile phone, so sorry for the quality :)

The plant seen in the video is Vallis, Vallisneria sp. known to be a good oxygenator, watch the video again, and try to measure the rate of the bubble.....:D

A friend of mine, after watching the video, asked, did I inject any CO2?.....and I replied "Yes, a DIY CO2." I bet he already know what is DIY CO2, as we sometime discussed about this topic. And he ask again, how I diffused the CO2 into the tank?.....and I just simply reply him a video of the diffuser....

Friday, July 24, 2009

I've received some enquiries and private message from forums that I joined regarding my tank specs. Instead of replying everyone individually, I decided to make a post on it, so you guys can just pop on to my blog anytime to look at the specs. Here's the following specs ask, and if you need further specs (which I can't think of any at the moment), just leave a comment, and I'll add them here...

Lighting duration:Lighting period is extra long from the recommended duration of 8 to 10 hours. For now, mine is 16 hours, no particular reason, maybe I thought that extra light duration could speed up growth. Will reduce the lighting duration when I'm satisfied with the growth.

Watt per gallon, WPG:If according to my light wattage, it should be around 4.5 wpg when the tank is fully filled. But lets say if the T5HO capacity is not up to it's stated wattage, the standard wattage for T5 bulb of the same size is 14W, so the total wpg is 3.2 wpg, which is still enough for the plants :)

By the way, I think the wpg is much higher, as the tank is partially filled (not even half of the tank height)CO2 and Ferts:no CO2 yetno ferts accept for the potting soil I used as the based, which I assume does contain organic compound which serves as fert. You can watch my first video of this setup here:5 Easy Steps To Grow Glossostigma elatinoides and Dwarf Hairgrass Emersed

Inhibitans:yeah...plan to keep red cherry shrimp in it, and maybe some smaller fish, undecided yet. Probably some small rasboras, like boraras brigittae and sundadanio axelrodi which I plan to collect them in the wild someday....

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Hah.....finally after all the waiting, I did a video update on my Moss wall. Oh boy, I didn't know that the moss wall is already 2 months old. Watch the video....

Not an impressing growth, but it grows anyway.....some part of the plastic mesh is not covered up. So let's wait till I do my next update....

Oh, by the way, a friend of mine told me, that they require cooler water, ask me to consider adding fans....well, I might look into that....could be an interesting experiment, so stay tune for more updates to come......Cheers :)

Its week 2 after the setup of this project. Go watch the update video, and tell me what you think...

I thought of filling the tank up with water maybe after week 3.....but anyway haven't actually decided when yet. Probably once I found a suitable deco for the empty space in the tank...I was thinking of some rocks with moss attached on it...

I guess that's it for now, I can't think of any reason to explain further, I bet the video has done the job. Anyway....I'm open to question and comments.....cheers:)

I had an old unused 2ft x 1ft x 1ft aquarium....it was abandoned for sometime after I shifted to my new house last year, had a crack on one of it side. I thought of using it to grow my aquatic plants, so whenever I need plants, I have them handy.

So few days back, I brought the aquarium to the glass shop for repair....they charge me RM25....damn, almost the price of a brand new tank. Anyway I didn't want to buy a new tank, and keep a broken 1, so repair is my option. SO that's it, 25 bucks....gone :(

Now here's where I got frustrated, since the aquarium was abandoned, naturally it was covered with dust. Until yesterday, when I cleaned the aquarium full of high spirit to start a nursery tank, Dammit....another crack at the bottom...so will be visiting the shop soon, this time, I will try another shop....

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

After 1 week the tank was setup, I decided to flood the plants. But before anything, just see how much the Glossostigma elatinoideshas grown in 1 week...

Picture took after setup

Picture took after 1 week, just see how fast they grow...

Now go watch the video update I made, before reading the rest of this blog

Now you have seen the video...here's my opinion to why some of the Glossos grow upwards...

If you find all the facts about Glossostigma elatinoides, you see that Glossos need strong lighting to grow horizontally and that will make a very nice foreground plant. On the other hand, with poor lighting, they will just grow upwards, just like my case.

However, in my case, this little experiment is not about lighting. It's more about the environment they are in. In my opinion, no matter how much light I give, if they are grown emersed, they won't grow horizontally.

For those plant that are slightly cover with water, they will grow horizontally, sending out runners to grow new plants. However, those that are exposed to air, will grow upwards....here's Why..."In my opinion"

I believe water plays a role in the growth of the runners. So for those that are exposed to air, they can't send out their runners, and instead grow upwards. And some even look like a tree, growing branches. That's it...anyway this is just one of my simple observation on this plant, so the simple conclusion :)

Here's a quick idea or reason why I started this project to grow them emersed...

to observe the growth behavior (the vertical Glossos might assist me sometime in the future)

to setup a Glossos tank different from conventional tank setup

What I mean by different from conventional tank setup is that, with this kind of setup, I'm actually growing the plants first before adding in other decor, in my case, I'm planning to add in some rocks in the empty spot later on. This kind of setup is also more of a step by step process, where once the plant are grown, next will be filling the tank with water, then comes the filter, and so on till animals are added.

So that's a little of what I can say about Glossostigma elatinoidesgrowth behavior. Stay tune to see how much the plant have grown when I update on them next time....Cheers :)

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Oops....forgot to update the Glossostigma elatinoides on Day 4....anyway here's the update after Day 5.

What you can see here is, the runner has sank into the sand, and there don't seem to have new runners, probably it's gworing beneath

This plantlet grows really fast, root and leaf twice since the day I follow their growth

Same goes to the last plantlet that I'm following, start leafing and going to root anytime soon

So...I hope this blog as well as the previous ones do show how fast Glossostigma elatinoides really grows. They multiply so rapidly, that I think it will carpet a well setup Glossostigma elatinoides tank in no time.

I think that would be for now on following the growth of this interesting plant. The next update would probably be a week or two or maybe more, just to show how much they have grown. Till then....cheers :)

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Ever since I started to plant Glossostigma elatinoides about two weeks ago, I'm quite curious to see their growth.

After planting and observing this plants, they do grow pretty fast after they start rooting. Here are some pics of Glossostigma elatinoidess growing...what I'm trying to do here, is to follow the growth of this plantlets, especially the runners. I will take pic of the plantlets everyday to show their growth.

So I will consider this as Day 1 of this small experiment starting on the 8th July 2009.

Look at where the arrow is pointing...see the tiny bud?

Here's another tiny bud of runner growing...

the 3rd plantlet bud I'm watching...

If you may ask, the substrate material is the same as the ones I used in my Glossostigma elatinoides and Dwarf Hairgrass tank setup. The only difference is that I'm planting the plants submerges in plastic rectangular basins, and some of the basins used sea sand as the top layer. In fact the plants in picture 1 and 3 are growing using sea sand.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Okay, finally found a suitable spot to place a tank for Glossostigma elatinoides and Dwarf Hairgrass. This is partly going to be an experiment, and if it turns well in the near future, it will stay at that spot as part of deco in my house :D

This project started on the 5th of July 2009....this is part my of experiment to try grow both plants together is emersed condition. I've never done this before, but I think it might work, as I've seen people planting them emersed. The only thing that makes me different from those planted tank guys is that I'm not using those substrate specially for aquatic plants, I'm using my own substrate recipe, just some potting soil and sand......LOL, those aquatic plant substrate are expensive!

So here's the simple step by step process video...enjoy :)

For more pics of the whole process, please check out my photo album below

I hope this experiment work the way I want it to be....Will be updating bout them soon...

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

This is how the pack arrived, A big pack containing 11 smaller packs of plants...(10 Glossostigma elatinoides and 1 Hair Grass)

This small pack contains a alot of Glossostigma elatinoides....enough to keep me awake to plant the whole pack

Same goes to the hair grass....couldn't plant the whole pack at night

Started planting with this 2 pack into my aquarium...

Here's how the hair grass looks like after planting...

And this is the glossostigma elatinoides....(planting each plantlet separately)

Actually I didn't plant the whole pack that night....I planted just some of them, and spare the rest for the next day.....it was already 3.30am in the morning and I haven't even planted half of the Glossostigma elatinoides and hair grass pack.

Both plant are tedious....I have to cut the plants (especially Glossostigma elatinoides) into smaller plantlets, before I can plant them into the substrate. But anyway it's good experience :D

And for the rest of the plants.....I planted them into basin......And I plan to setup a new tank totally for Glossostigma elatinoides and Hairgrass.....still considering where to place the tank....I will update on that soon.....cheers :)

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